Partiers say Brokaw's got it wrong

That was the message that members of the media and others making the rounds at Friday night’s parties had for Tom Brokaw in the face of his renewed criticism of the Correspondents’ Association dinner.

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“As a former White House Correspondent, it’s really nice for people in politics and media to come together and have a little weekend of fun,” MSNBC host Alex Wagner told POLITICO at a reception at the Hay Adams hotel. “I understand the idea of the ‘celebrification’ of the event but I think it’s more of a testament to how interesting and compelling Washington politics is to the outside world.”

ABC’s Martha Raddatz said she doesn’t make much of the criticism of the event. “It’s a fun night,” she said. “I don’t get to smile much at work with the stories I cover.”

Former Mitt Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said, “Tom’s obviously entitled to his opinion. It’s a fun event for everybody, it’s for people from outside Washington [to] come see how things work in the capital and how people in this town operate.”

He added, “Hollywood will get their own chance to get a look at the dysfunction and gridlock in this town.”

Brokaw touched off the debate over the dinner when he told POLITICO’s Patrick Gavin in an interview that he won’t be attending this year’s gathering and that the last straw for him was when Lindsay Lohan was invited in 2012. The veteran newsman bemoaned the number of celebs at the dinner and worried how it all looks.

“What kind of image do we present to the rest of the country?” Brokaw asked. “Are we doing their business, or are we just a group of narcissists who are mostly interested in elevating our own profiles? And what comes through the screen on C-SPAN that night is the latter, and not the former.”